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Glite Dictionary
silver vixen

silver vixen

8.5
An attractive older woman with grey hair and confident style
  • noun
  • UK
translation icon : mujer atractiva de cabello canoso
  • Many admired the silver vixen for embracing her natural hair and aging gracefully.

Examples

  • Her elegance and wit marked her as the silver vixen at every social event.

  • The town's most famous silver vixen was known for her glamorous style.

  • She is a true silver vixen with her elegant style.

  • Many silver vixens are redefining beauty standards today.

  • Many admired the silver vixen for embracing her natural hair and aging gracefully.

  • Her elegance and wit marked her as the silver vixen at every social event.

  • The town's most famous silver vixen was known for her glamorous style.

Surface Forms

silver vixen singular
silver vixens plural

Morphology

silver + vixen

The phrase is partly compositional: 'silver' clearly evokes grey/silver hair or age and 'vixen' denotes a woman, so a learner could infer 'a woman with silver hair.' However, the evaluative/seductive nuance of 'vixen' (and the idiomatic positive sense 'attractive older woman') is lexical and not fully predictable from the parts, so the meaning is only partly transparent to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Silver vixen comes from two clear images: vixen (a female fox) known for being clever and attractive, and silver for grey hair. So the phrase pictures a confident, stylish older woman, which is why it means 'an attractive older woman' who is proud of her grey hair.